“HANOI HILTON”

The “Hanoi Hilton”(Maison Centrale) is a name coined by captured American pilots incarcerated in this central prison located smack bang in the centre of Hanoi city.

It had previously become infamous as a place of torture and misery by the French colonialists,who had originally built it in the early 19th century to hold common criminals,and later local revolutionaries fighting the French.

The conditions were absolutely abysmal and the building ( now a museum) shouts misery and depravation from every nook and cranny.

One can sense,....almost smell,the atrocities committed in this place!

The museum comes in for much criticism for its rendition of how American captives were treated here.

The present government (Communist) version is that they had a pretty great time with organized sports,.....good food,no torture,adequate clothing,church outings and the like.

Not likely,......but when one considers the effect of considerable and extensive bombings on the local population,and their treatment by the previous French colonialists,.....I reckon I’d probably have put the boot in now and then if I’d been a local😬

Senator McCarthy and a number of other ex-pilots who  were incarcerated here went on to become high ranking politicians and even presidential candidates.